Strip-sheet manufacture



Nov. 19, 1929. H. M. NAUGLE y E-r Al. 1,736,324

STRIPSHEE'T MANUFACTURE Filed May 24. 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l /Iaa (10b (fac 1M l Il l 11M Nang/e' Nov. i9, 1929. H. M. NAUGLE ET AL STRIPSHEET MANUFACTURE Filed May 24, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 HMA/angle am A. d 75m/wend )i/me l Nov. 19,' 1929'. H. M. NAUGLE Er AL l 1,735,324

STRIPSHEET MANUFACTURE y Filed May 24. 1927 a sheets-sheet 3 l MNau'gf/e A. d 75l/Jimena' Patented Nov. 19, 1929 UNITED STATES HARRY M. NAUGLE AND VARTHUR J'. TOWNSENI), OF CANTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOBS, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO THE AMERICAN #ROLLING- MILL COMPANY, OF MIDDLE- TOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO STRIP-SHEET MANUFACTURE `application led Hay 24,

The invention relates to the production of stripsheets of steel or iron, having the unlimited length -of a strip, the thin gauges of a sheet, and an extraordinary width of from twenty to thirty to forty inches and upwards.

Various methods have been proposed from vtime to time for producing long strips ^with thin gauges and sheet widths by longitudinal rolling from slabs or sheet bars, as for instance, the methods disclosed in the Davies Patent No. 674,855, the Cushwa Patent No. 904,605, and the Norton Patent No. 1,108,213, but for one reason or another, the disclosure of such patents has never resulted in a successful or commercial production of stripsheets.

In any event, there is nothing in either one of the Davies, the Cushwa, or the Norton patents, which discloses means and methods for successfully reducing by continuous rolling operations a thick strip to a stripsheet in widths exceeding the common strip mill practice, which has heretofore Ibeen limited to widths of from twenty to twenty-five inches.

We have heretofore described the making ofstripsheets by the methods 'disclosed in our prior Patents No. 1,536,028,120.l 1,544,028, and No.- 1,544,269, but in the 4firstl instance, the disclosure does not suggest a width of product exceeding the ordinaryy strip mill practice, which at that time did not exceed twenty inches, and moreover the method excluded a hot rolling operation and was limited to a rapid cold rolling reduction,-followed by a quick annealing; in the'second instance the stripsheet product was limited to a width of some eight inches Iand in the third instance, the stripsheet product was limited to a long, thin, narrow stri or band.

We have also developed improved methodsy and apparatus for continuously annealing l and pickling stripsheets, and improved methods and apparatus for cold rolling and coiling the same, which are set forth in co-pend- `ing applications, and the same are necessary or desirable, and in some eases may be essential, for the successful commercial production of stripsheets; and the purpose of the present improvement is to combine and coordinate methods and apparatus which are 1927, serial no. 193,937;

necessary to successfully produce for the first time, a commercial commodity of iron or steel having the length of a strip and the width and gauge of a sheet. and also having the uniform and high ductility which is required for deep drawing and forming operations.

The improved method may begin with a steel slab, and may include a continuous heating furnace, a scale breaker and a slab turn-over for removing scale from the slab,

a reversing universal mill for roughing and` `nace for quick annealing the finished stripsheet; together with such intermediate coilers, levelling rolls, traveling Welders and like apparatus, which may be necessary or desirable for carrying out the more general operations which may be employed. Y

It will be understood that the hot rolling, the blue annealing or the'continuous pickling, the cold rolling and the quick annealing operations may each one follow the other during a continuous movement of a strip without .any

:intervening coiling operations,`but such an arrangement of the necessary apparatus for accomplishmg the successive operatlons ywould extend the same 'to such a length as would be inconvenient, to say the least, in

the operation of a plant; and for that reason,

"it is preferred to coil the strip at the end of each one of the continuous hot rolling,

lpickling, cold rolling and annealing operations, and to car out the alternate operations in reverse 'rections, so asto brin them all undera common roof of limite ,len h and a reasonable width.

. oreover, by such an arrangement, each strip is wound in a coil at the end of each 11, major operation and may/be detained 0 11300 whole and also in the operation of each sep.

arate portion thereof.

A combination and arrangement of commercial apparatus which has been successfully employed in carrying out the present improvements, is illustrated more or less diagrammatically lin the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which'- v Figure 1 is a plan view of two continuous furnaces, a scale breaker, a slab turn-over, a reversing universal roughin mill, a tandem series of four, four-high mil s, together with the intervening conveyer tables, forreducing a slab to a stripsheet byvhot rolling operations; a Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a plan continuation of the hot rolling apparatus, including a shears for cropping off ends or cuttin thicker strips or plates to lengths, a porcuplne transfer and piler tables for handling strips or plates cut ,to length, and a coiler and a turn table for coiling stripsheets and delivering vthem in a desired dlrection;

Fig. 4, a side elevation of the same; Fig. 5, a plan' of a continuous furnace and appurtenances, which may be used for blue annealing stripsheets made solely by hot rolly ing operations;

A and from four to twelvefeet in length, ac`

Flg. 6, a plan view of a continuous .pickling apparatus and appurtenances thereto, for removin scale and the like froml a hot rolled strips eet;

Fig. 7, a side elevation of the same;

Fig. 8, a plan view showing below, a tandem series of' four, four-hi h rolls for cold iingv o erations, together with two additional mills or `special finishing operations; and showing above, a continuous annealing furnace' and appur- Ltenances for quick annealing v`cold rolled and finished stripsheets; vand Fig. 9, a side elevation of thev same.

Similar numerals referto similar parte throughout the drawings.

For-carryin out the im roved" methods, an open heart ing'ot may reduced by a slabbing mill andl cut to crm. slabs; say three inches thick and thirty-six `inches wide,

cording to/ the desired-"dime`nsions of the vstripsheet to be produced, and theny heated to a rollingv temperature.

lSuch slabs may be heated while moving laterally through one of the heating furf naces 12 on to a discharge skid 13, and then be conveyed by a'rollertable 14, to a scale breaker 15 provided with bending rolls having cutting edges, which of the .slab and to detach and cut or break t e relatively hard surface scale therefrom; whence the slab is .rolls acting in conjunction wit act to reversely flex the comparatively soft bod may be-and preferably is a reversing universal mill, wherein from five to eleven .passes breaks down the slab and forms a strip plate of say three-eighths of an inch thick, thirty-six inches wide, and some fifty feet long, depending upon the original lergth and thickness of the, slab.

uring the roughing operation, the vertical axis rolls in the sides of the universal mill act to edge roll the slab'as it is being broken down to a strip plate, to true the edges and' define the width of the strip plate; it being understood that this edge rolling is not necessarily done by the rolls of a universal mill, but maybe done by an vertical axis Y h the roughing rolls.

From the roughing mill, the strip is vcarriedby a roller conveyor 14:d to the first one of a tandem series of say four or more fourlhigh or cluster mills 18, 18", 18, and 18", 'through which the strip is passed continuously and by which it may be reducedb single ply passes in the immediately succeeding operations of the successive mills to a stripsheet of vfrom eleven to eighteen gauge, thirty-six inches -wide and some three hundred feet longnaccording to the originallength and thic ess of the slab.

`A stripsheet .thus producedJnay be conveyed by a roller table 14 through automatic shears 19, which may be used irregular ends ofr the stripsheet; whence it may be conveyed by a traveling conve er 14 directly to a coiler 20, from which t e coil or cropping may be delivered on to a turn-table 21 for delivering it either longitudinally orlaterally from the end of' the hot rolling apparatus, as may be desired.

When, however, a strip of from twelve to seven gauge or more in thickness is produced,

which doesnot require annealingor pickling I 110 for commercial use, the strip may be cut to l length 4by theautomatic shears 19, and a porcupine table 22 maybeinterposed. between" the shears and the coiler, for transferring the cut strip to a iler table 23, wheneea pile of the same may be carried by a conveyor 14s to a place of deliver l When a hot rolled stripsheet is produced with a thickness of from fourteen to eighteen auge, which is intended for use without a rther cold rolling reduction, the grain Psize may be' affected by rolling Abelow the critical temperature, and this so hardens the material as to require an annealing operation to soften the metal to make a ductile commercial commodity. 'This may be accomplished. by a -continuous blue annealing operation, which lclude a coil holder 32, levelling rolls 33. a

traveling Welder 34, a pickling tank 35, a Water bath 36, an alkali bath 37, pinch rolls 38, and either automatic shears 39, or a coiler 40, depending upon whether the strip is cut to length for use, or Wound in a coil for further operations.

The-pickled strip or stripsheet is then substantially reduced in thickness to a desired gauge'and finish by a cold rolling operation, which may be accomplished by apparatus illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, and may include a coil holder 41, a tandem series of four, fourhigh mills 42, 42", 42c and 42, and a coiler 43; and the successive rolls and the coiler may be operated at successively increasing peripheral speeds, so as to constantly maintain an elongated stretching tension greater than the elastic limit but less than the Aultimate strength of the metal in the stripsheet on the delivery side of the rolls.

Additional stands of four-high mills'42e and 42, and coilers 43e and 43f, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9, may be employed for giving further temperin or finishing passes to the stripsheet, either efore or after the same is annealed. i

The stripsheet is reduced by the cold rolling operation to the desired gauge and finish,

which may be from sixteen to twenty-four gauge or thinner, and it is then given a quick annealing operation by means of apparatus also illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9, Which may include a coil holder 44, a leveller 45,a slitter lor edge trimmer 46a traveling spot Welder 47, a quick annealing furnace 48, a cooling duct 49, a cleaning trough 50, pinch rolls 51,-

and either an automatic shears 52 or a coiler 53, depending upon the length of the stripsheet product desired.

The scale breaking operation may be don by the apparatus illustrated in our application for scale breaker filed herewith, Serial N o. 193,938; the pickling operation may be carried out by the method and apparatus set forth in our ap lication for continuous pickling processes, led November 12, 1926, Serial No. 147,878; the cold rolling operations may be carried out by the method and apparatus set forth in our pending application for method of cold rolling and coiling strips, filed April 28, 1927, Serial No. 187,186, and also by the method set forth in 'our patent for method of making stripsheets, No. 1,536,028, granted April 28, 1925; the quick annealing operations may be carried out by methods an-d apparatus set `forth in our pending application for continuous annealing and pickling processes, filed July 1, 1925, Serial No. 40,739; the traveling Welders used may be o f the character set forth in our pending application for Welding machines, filed September 18, 1926, Serial No. 136,360; and the automatic shears employed may be of the character set forth in the pending application of Townsend .and Miller for automatic shears, filed April 6, 1927, Serial No. 181,410; to which several applications reference is made ,for detailed descriptions of the various meth- 'ods and apparatus set forth therein.

containing the same; and it is impossible t04 remove such scale by a pickling process without producing such deep pits as will destroy the surface thereof, and which cannot be entirely eliminated by a cold rolling operation. i

It is also desirable, if not necessary, to accompany the reducing operation of the roughing mill with an edge rolling operation foi". the purpose of controlling 'and deining the exact Width of the strip prior to the time itis reduced from a plate or strip gauge toa sheet gauge; because the true edges and defi-- nite Width then given to the strip is so little affecte-d by the subsequent reducing rolling in the hot and cold mills as to be negligible, so that true edges and a substantially definite Width in the finished stripsheet is substantially caused by the edge rolling operation in conjunction with the operation of the roughing rolls, and may not require an edge trim-` ming of the stripsheet product.

It is necessary to anneal the thinner stripsheets produced solely by hot rolling operabefore the cold rolling operation to completel remove therefrom all scale and other ox1- dation from thesurface thereof, which can best be done by a continuous pickling process; and it is also essential to quick anneal a strip after it has been cold rolled to produce the desired gauge and finish, for the purpose of correcting the micro-structure of the metal while preventing yan objectionable rain growth therein and a detrimental scale t ereon during the annealing operation, and this f a steel slab which includes a rolling temperature,

ysingle ply passes to can only bedone b a continuous quick annealing operation, uring which the metal is maintained at an annealing temperature lduring a period of only about one minute, to give the stripsheet a uniform high ductility and clean surface throughout its length and .Width Finally, must be performed in a continuous manner to avoid cutting the stripsheet into lengths before the final operation to produce the desired product has been completed; and in this manner 'is produced, for the first time, a rolledsteel commodity having the unlimited len h of a stri and the-thm gauge and extraer inary widt of a sheet, and being uniformly ductile throughout its length and Width.

We claim 1. The method of makin a stripsheet from l eating the slab to 'then completely and cleanly removing all scale therefrom by me- 'chanical means, and then rolling the slab by produce a commercial commodity having the unlimited length of a strip and vthewidth and gauge of a sheet,A

all without reheating the steel.

2. The method of making a stripsheet from afsteel slab whichincludesheating the slab 'to a rolling temperature, then rough rolling the slabfto form a stri while edge rolling the same to form true e ges and define th'e width of the strip plate, and thencontinuously rolling the strip plate duce a commercial commodity having the unlimited length of a strip and the Width and gauge of a sheet with defined edges, all without reheating the steel. 1 l

3. The method of making a stripsheetfrom a steel slab which includes heatin the slab to a rolling temperature, then comp etely and cleanly removing a ll scale therefrom by mechanic-al means, then rough rolling the slab toA form a strip plate while e f e rolling'the same to form true edges and de gauge of a sheet with de e the width Aof the strip plate then continuously produce a commercial commodit having the unlimited length of a stri and t e out reheating the steel. t 4. The method of making a stripsheet from a steel slab which includes heating the slab each and all of these operationsl ly rolling in a plurality of hot mills to by single plyl passes to po`4 by single ply passes, andflf rolling the strip plate to to a rollin temperature', thenrough rolling the slab to form a strip plate, then continuously rolling the-strip plate by single ply passes in a plurality of mills to form a stripsheet, all wlthout reheating the steel, and then continuously annealing the stripsheet to produce a ductile commercial commodity. having the unlimited length of a strip and the Width of a sheet.

5. The method of making a stripsheet from a steel slab which includes heating the slab to a rolling temperature, then rough rolling the slab to form a strip plate, then lcontinuously rolling the strip plate by single ply passes in a plurality of hot mills to form a stripsheet2 all Without reheating the steel, then contlnuously pickling the stripsheet to remove oxidation therefrom, and then continuously' rolling the stripsheet in a plurality of cold mills to substantially reduce its thickness to the desired gauge and finish, to produce a commercial commodity having the unlimited length of a strip and the width and gauge of a sheet.

6. The method of making a stripsheet from a steel slab which includes heating the slab to a rollin temperature, then rough rolling the slab to the strip plate by single ply passes sheet, all without reheating the steel, then continuously pickling the stripsheet to remove oxidation therefrom,then continuousl rolling the stri sheet in a plurality of col mills to substantially reduce its thickness to vthe desired gau e and finish, and then continu-4 ousl annea 'ng the stripsheet to produce a uni ormly -ductile commercial comm dity having the unlimited length of a strip an the width and gauge of a sheet.

7 The method of makin a stripsheet from a hot strip plate which inc udes continuously rollin the strip plate by single ply passes in a plura 'ty of-hotl mills to form a stripsheet without reheating the steel, then ,continuously pickling the stripsheet to remove oxidation therefrom, then continuously rolling, the stripsheet in a plurality ofl cold mills to substantially reduce its thickness to the desired gauge and finish, and then continuously anneallng the stripsheet to produce a uniformly ductile commercial commodity having the unlimited length of a strip and the width and gauge of a sheet. l HARRY M. NAUGLE.

.ARTHUR J. TOWNSEN D.

width and ed edges, all withorm a strip plate, then continuous-a izo 

